Jobs secured, they take to the skies

India seems to be coming out of the economic slump. With job security returning, Indian travellers are once again looking ahead to leisure travel instead of the weekend trips they restricted themselves to during the insecurity of 2008-09.

The leisure travel market has grown by more than 25% in the past six months. Nitin Sethi (name changed), managing director of a private firm, will be going with his family on a two-week holiday to Hong Kong this weekend. “We are really going to relax and indulge ourselves in the new year,” says the 35-year-old Sethi said.

“Before the slump, we used to go on vacations twice a year. But this year, because of the economic downturn, a weekend trip to Thailand was all we had.”

With quite a few like Sethi coming ahead to indulge themselves, the gloom that had surrounded the Indian travel industry is lifting. Things have started looking up since August.

“This holiday season has been robust for the travel industry. There has been a marked increase in demand for packages. There has been a 25% growth in both domestic and outbound travel over the past six months,” Karan Anand, head — relationships and suppliers, Cox & Kings (India) Ltd, said.

Ashish Kishore, head — hotel and retail business, Yatra.com, said that the renewed sense of job security has led to the spurt in travel.

“As the recession has ended in India, Indians are thinking beyond short-haul travel,” he said. “Moreover, they know that there are best deals available in the market even at the last moment, which are 15-20% cheaper than last year. For instance, a three-day package to Singapore is now available for Rs 23,000, but a year ago, it had cost Rs 35,000.”

So apart from the usual Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, more distant places like Japan, Tanzania, New Zealand, Germany too now rank among the hottest destinations. “All popular destinations are doing well. We foresee an increase in the number of Indians travelling to places like South America, Canada, Japan, Egypt, Tanzania etc,” Vishal Suri, COO (leisure-outbound), Thomas Cook India Ltd, said.

Even the domestic tourism spots are growing beyond Goa and Kerala. “The most favoured destinations include Goa, Kerala, Mysore, Coorg, Jaipur and Gangtok,” said a spokesperson for Jet Airways, which provides Jet Escapes holiday packages.